The Cleveland Browns surprised many people when they selected Baker Mayfield with the top overall pick in the NFL Draft, but they apparently are not the only team that believes the former Oklahoma star is the best QB in the incoming class.
After the Browns took Mayfield, one school of thought was that they would try to trade down to take advantage of teams wanting to land one of the remaining top QB prospects. However, Peter King of The MMQB reports that Cleveland got “very little action” on the No. 4 overall pick, and the team offering the most told Browns general manager John Dorsey before the draft that he would only trade up for Mayfield.
Four teams called Dorsey with interest in moving up. None got serious. Only one team (I’d guess Arizona) offered a 2019 first-round pick as part of the package to move, which is surprising considering that two quarterbacks were still on the board when the fourth pick came up. The team willing to include its first-rounder next year said to Dorsey before the draft began: “I’m coming up for one player and one player only, and that’s Baker Mayfield.” As Dorsey said: “I knew all along it wasn’t going to happen.” So for those wondering why the Browns didn’t try to pillage some team by moving down a few spots, they never had the chance.
Mayfield went to the Browns and Sam Darnold was drafted by the New York Jets at No. 3. The Buffalo Bills traded up to No. 7 and took Josh Allen, and the Arizona Cardinals traded up to 10th overall for Josh Rosen. Obviously, neither of those teams had to go as high as No. 4 to get their guy, and they must have known that.
Reports like the one from King are only going to put an even bigger chip on the shoulder one of Mayfield’s fellow quarterbacks. That said, Dorsey must have felt pretty good about his choice when he heard how much another team wanted Mayfield.
